Workers need a bailout now – PSWU

Mr Bernard Adjei, the General Secretary of the Public Services Workers Union (PSWU), has called on the government to bail public service workers out by giving them Cost-of-Living Allowance (COLA)

He said inflation was so high that workers could no longer convey themselves to work, “now workers also need a bailout.”

“It is either the Government cushions us so that we can survive in these hard times or the prices of things, especially fuel, be reduced.”

Mr Bernard Adjei made the call at an emergency meeting organized by the Public Services Workers Union for its Divisional officers in Accra on Friday.

He said the Trade Union Congress had earlier written to the government to give workers 20 percent of their basic salary as cost-of-living allowance to cater for the high inflation rate, however, the Government had refused to respond.

The Public Services Workers Union has, therefore, decided to give the government a seven-day notice from the 12th of July 2022 to lay down their tools until it responds to their demands.

Mr Ken Kodua, the National Chairman of the PSWU, said leadership of the Unions, had been meeting, “there has been series of discussions to get government to respond to the demand for COLA.”

“Inflation is now 30 per cent and inflation is eating our money, the COLA is to cushion us,” he said urging the government to act now.

Mr Kodua explained that the call for COLA was first made by Dr Yaw Baah, the Secretary-General of the TUC during the May Day parade but until date the government had not responded to the call.,

He called on Government to find a way to meet the needs of the public sector workers, saying, ‘When government get committed to something, it finds a way to do it. Government should find a way to respond to workers’ demands.”

Source: GNA